“Yeah, tell me about it, like the entire female population of our office.” With my legs sufficiently warm I moved over to the kitchen and sat on a bar stool at the counter.
“Tsk-tsk, Sera, do I sense a hint of jealousy in your voice?”
“What? No. Absolutely not.”
He turned and smiled at me slowly. That slightly skew heart-stopping smile that friends should not give each other.
“You know, you’re such a . . . a . . .” I was searching for the right words. “A man-whore flirt. You go around flirting with everyone.”
“I don’t.”
“Oh please. Don’t act all innocent. The way you spoke to Becks and Angie yesterday, or can’t you help the fact that everything you say is laced with sexual innuendo, and don’t tell me you’re not in control of that husky sexy voice you do. Even your ‘hello’ speech was dripping with it.”
Ben started to laugh. “I admit the speech I gave was.” His eyes twinkled. “But that was solely for your benefit.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you like my whole,I don’t want to be a back-seat driverthing?” He laughed again as he whisked the batter.
“You did that on purpose?”
“Yup.” He turned and winked at me before spooning the batter into the hot pan.
“So you recognized me straight away?”
“The second I saw you.” He flipped the pancake over expertly.
“How’s that even possible with what I was wearing? The wig?”
“I’ve spent a long time wa—” He cut that sentence off so fast I almost didn’t hear it. “I’m good with faces,” he quickly corrected. For the first time since I’d known him, he sounded caught off guard. I got the distinct impression he wasn’t telling me something.
“What do you mean, you spent—?”
“Especially such a beautiful face,” he interrupted with a charming smile and husky tone.
Stupidly, I forgot myself momentarily and felt my pulse start to race at the sudden compliment.
“So what were you doing at a gay club anyway?” I asked. I’d been wondering this for a few days now.
“My brother was performing.” He was putting the pancakes on a plate now, gluing them into a tower with generous dollops of chocolate sauce and berries and topping the whole thing with way too much syrup.
“Who’s your brother?”
“Miss Behave.”
“NO!” I gasped “You’re kidding?”
He shook his head.
I burst out laughing. The guys were going to have a shit-fit when they found out—Miss Behave was JJ’s nemesis.Not that she knew that.
“Have you seen her perform?” he asked, sliding the plate in front of me and leaning across the counter.
“Oh indeed I have,” I said, looking down at the pile of sugar-coated calories in front of me.
“You say it like there’s a juicy story behind it.”
I smiled up at him. “Oh believe me. There is.”
